The Color Blue
by ChibiStarr
Summary: Something based off a roleplay I was once in. Latias flies above Floaroma Meadow, pondering the fact that she's alone for the first time in her life.


**Note:** I've already posted this story up on deviantart and a few other websites, so if you see this story lying around in another place then it may just be me using one of my many internet aliases. The inspiration for this came from a roleplay I was once in, where I played Latias and she had been separated from Latios, and this little thing bugged me until I had to type this little emo-plot thing out. Hope you enjoy it.

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The moon hung over Floaroma Meadow like a shiny coin, perfectly round and glowing with its usual silvery halo of light. Its moonbeams reached out across the sky and touched the earth, painting the ground below varying shades of gray and silver-blue. The light somehow seemed to accentuate the glow of the stars surrounding it, so the night sky looked like some sort of celestial blanket decorated with glittering lights. Below, a small breeze stirred the many flowers, and if one were to be in the sky they would have noted how the meadow, usually so full of colors, looked like a rippling silver-grey sea, speckled with a multitude of subdued colors.

The sleek, jet-like red body dived down from the skies gracefully like an arrow, twisting in a barrel roll as it fell. It was falling at a curve, and at the very last second it suddenly pulled up, the belly of the thing brushing the tips of the flowers everywhere. The petals of the flowers were ripped off from the wind the creature left in its wake. The red streak spiraled back up towards the sky, still twisting as it flew. When it was a considerable distance above the ground, it stopped spinning to reveal a red dragon pokemon. Latias. She angled her wings to catch the wind better. This place was beautiful, she still preferred her Hoenn home better, but this land did have some good traits to it.

Latias twirled among the sky like a piece of thistledown, doing impossible moves and maneuvers that no other pokemon could hope to compete with. Latias didn't truly fly, like a bird, she more or less floated, much like a Psychic pokemon would. This allowed her infinite mobility in the air. She giggled a little at the fun she was having, executing a one-eighty on the spot and zooming back. Well, it wasn't a lot of fun. This beautiful, glorious night had one vital piece missing from it, something whose absence dampened her mood like the darkening clouds on the far distant horizon. Latios was not with her. She always used to fly with her big brother on nights like this. Those times would always be forever imprinted into her memory, especially the early days, when she was still a youngling.

For the first time in her life, Latias was alone, and she didn't like it. It deeply disturbed her, this loneliness. No one to talk to, Latios wasn't even within telepathic distance, so she was forced to fend for herself. Not that she didn't need to before, but couldn't she at least have some company while she was at it? Most creatures were solitary by nature, but Latias wasn't. Maybe it was because for as long as she could remember, Latios was there, with her. Her flying companion, her playmate, the one who always watched her back, picked her up when she fell down, loved her even when she was stupid, and understood her without words. Every memory she cherished, well, because Latios was just like that. You just couldn't forget him if you tried, something about him always made him stick in peoples' heads. However, the things that stood out most in Latias' memories were the very early days, when she always had a question for everything.

_"Latios, why is snow white?" She would ask - her voice like silver ice and winter winds - after the snowstorm ended and the siblings came out after the storm._

_Latios smiled at her, his eyes smiled more than his mouth ever could. When he smiled the day somehow got warmer and brighter. "Because it's forgotten what color it's supposed to be." He answered, his voice like rocks under deep water. It was ridiculous, but he said it so earnestly it was hard not to believe him. "Personally, I think white snow is beautiful. Wouldn't you agree?" He went on, scooping up a handful of snow and watching it fall through his claws._

Yes, white snow was beautiful. Latias had often imagined snow a different color, black or purple or orange or even red, like herself, but later on she realized that just wouldn't be right. Snow deserved to be white. So plain, yet so beautiful. White was perhaps the only color that could simultaneously be overlooked as a plain color yet revered as if it were a work of art. Latias blinked, her vision snapping from the snow field in her memory to the dark sky. Somehow, she was flying on her back, looking at the sky. Even as a child, she had always been fascinated with the night sky.

_"Latios, why does the moon shine?" She asked, hovering in place and staring in awe at the bright circle that cast down beams of radiant light below._

_Latios was silent for a moment, Latias could actually tell he was thinking about his answer. Usually Latios answered right away, after a second's pause, as if he knew what she was going to ask and was waiting patiently for her to ask it. Now he actually thought for a few moments. Latias didn't truly mind, half the time she asked him silly questions just to hear him talk and explain questions with impossible answers, and Latios seemed to know that, which is why his answers were certainly odd._

_Finally, he spoke, "Because the Mistress of the Moon performs her stardance. And whenever that happens she twirls and twirls and the stars dance along with her, and then she catches those stars and plants them in her Moon Gardens, where they shine and make the moon glow with their bright lights."_

_"Why do the stars shine?" Came Latias' quick reply._

_Latios chuckled, no pause for thinking this time. "Because they are souls." He said, "When a living creature dies, their soul floats into the sky, where they earn their own place among the stars. And because souls are so bright and pure, we can see them shining from this land. The purest souls are the brightest stars."_

Of course, Latias eventually learned that the moon actually shone because the sun's light was reflecting off of it. She liked Latios' answer so much better. Nothing could be _that_ bright, could it? Besides, how could the light reach the moon when the sun was on the other side of the world? The Mistress of the Moon would certainly be indignant if she ever heard the real reason why her moon shone.

_"Have you ever met the Mistress of the Moon, Latios?" She questioned, flying again._

_Latios smiled a very small smile. "Once," he said, his smile now a grin. "A very long time ago. Her name is actually Cresselia, it was at the Festival of Life."_

_Latias gasped in utter shock. "The Festival of Life?" She squeaked, Latios nodded. "The one where pokemon all over the world celebrate and at midnight sing the Soul Song? They sing for beauty and perfect, for harmony and balance and peace and love and happiness, for life and death, for light and darkness, for the sun and the moon, for the sky and earth, for everything and nothing?" Latios nodded again, and suddenly he seemed much older to Latias. "What did she look like?" Latias asked eagerly._

_Latios frowned for a second and replied, "She was silver as the ground when caught in the light of the moon, golden as the moon can sometimes be, and the soft pink of approaching dawn. Her crown is shaped like two crescent moons, when they are but claws in the sky, and pink wisps of energy circle around her body. She is surrounded by a dim silver halo of light, and her eyes shine like the stars she collects and plants."_

_Latias was awed by the image her mind created. "Why doesn't she just collect all the stars to plant them?" She asked in confusion, wondering why Cresselia would limit herself to only a few stars._

_Latios chuckled in amusement. "Look at them all, little sister," he said gently, gesturing with a claw to the sky. "Do you think one person can catch all of them in their lifetime? In several lifetimes?" Latias knew Latios didn't really expect an answer, since he already got the point across. He continued in the same gentle voice, "Not to mention that if every star was captured and planted on the moon, then there would be nothing pretty to look at in the night sky. And the moon would shine as bright as the sun, and personally, I wouldn't like that a bit."_

Latias felt something warm in her eyes, and suddenly her vision got very blurry. She stopped her flying and blinked. She felt a crystal tear course down her cheek and watched it as it fell to the earth. The moonlight caught it and made it shine, so it looked as if one of the many stars in the sky was suddenly falling to the earth. Latias gently swooped down, following the drop's progress until it landed on a bright blue flower. The plant had been drooping, its petals starting to fall off, but as soon as the water touched it, it straightened up and spread its remaining petals wide, new ones growing to fill the spaces of the old ones. In seconds the flower was simply bursting with life and energy, it almost seemed to glow. Latias was hardly surprised. Latios told her they were called "Legendary" pokemon, they were different than other pokemon, ancient powers ran through their veins.

But Latias didn't feel very powerful. At the moment, she felt very tiny and insignificant, and very, very lonely. Another rush of warmth flooded down her cheek, and she wiped her claw across it gingerly. She examined the water on the tip of her claw, sparkling like a diamond. With a mere flick, she sent it soaring through the air. The patch of grass it landed on grew a few inches higher and seemed a brighter green than the others around it. Latias watched it for a few long minutes, then she spoke. "O' Cresselia, Mistress of the Moon," she said as if she wasn't aware she was speaking out loud. "Please, hear my prayer, take these tears I shed and use them to water your Moon Garden, so the moon may shine like the sun and chase the shadows away, so I can search for my brother both day and night." When she was done she flattened her ears, more tears collecting. What would Cresselia care for her problems, besides, if she really did live on the moon like Latios said, she couldn't hear the small red dragon's prayer.

Not to mention the dark clouds from earlier were rolling in. Already some of the stars and moonlight were being blocked. Soon the night would be cold and dark and so much lonelier.

_"Latios, what are clouds?" Latias asked as they flew through one. It was cold and wet and wisps of it clung to her wings as she flew out of it._

_Latios looked back at her, watching her shake herself off. "They are water that has risen into the sky and collected in giant piles." He explained hiding a smile as Latias shook herself again, her damp feathers puffing out comically._

_Latias blinked, this time Latios' answer had been very logical and scientific. "But why is the water in the air and not the ground, where it's supposed to be?"_

_"Because water wants to be everywhere," Latios answered, disguising his laugh as a cough when he saw a tuft of feathers on the back of Latias' head fluffing up like a cowlick. "Water already covers much of this planet, but it cannot cover the land, although it does try with lakes and rivers, so it tries to claim the sky. But, there is simply too much sky for it."_

_Latias nodded, merely accepting the answer as she always did. Her mind wasn't really on Latios now, but the sky. It was blue, but...just blue. There was no other word for it, blue, blue, blue. Lighter than Latios' blue. If seemed to go on forever and ever, no matter how high she flew, she would never reach the end. It was infinite, yet so peaceful and distant from the affairs of the world below. And she was a creature of the sky, it pleased her to no end._

_A pair of claws on her shoulders jerked her back to reality. "Sis? For the fourth time, are you alright?" Latios asked her, she looked into his crimson eyes and saw concern written in them._

_Latias smiled and bobbed her head in a nod. "Yeah," she said distantly. "I was just thinking." She saw her older brother's questioning look and went on. "About the sky...Why is it blue Latios?"_

_Latios was stunned at the unexpected question. He honestly didn't know the answer to that one, he never thought about it. Latias frowned in puzzlement as Latios stayed silent, his gaze oddly distant. His silence went on for so long it disturbed her, but she knew he would speak eventually. "Because blue is an eternal color." He said finally, "And the sky stretches to every corner of the world, so it's only natural they go together. Blue's not like other colors, one time I saw a wall, painted blue. It was such a lovely color, and I reached a hand out to it, and I half expected my hand to go through the wall and into another place."_

_Latias didn't know where that last bit came from, but she was satisfied anyway. She realized Latios must be very proud of his colors. She shivered at her cold feathers and remembered another question she had on her tongue earlier. "Latios, if water wants to stay in the sky as clouds, then why does it rain?"_

_The blue dragon blinked slowly, glad the subject had been changed to simpler things. "Because from way up high, they can watch the world below. They see the evils and grief of the world and it makes them sad, and they cry. That's why everything is depressed on rainy days, because they feel the clouds' sadness."_

_"If the world is so evil, then why isn't the sun blocked out by the rainy clouds?" Latias murmured quietly, resting her head tiredly against her brother's shoulder._

_Latios gently smoothed the cowlick in the back of her head down, smiling affectionately as he did so. "The sun shines because it sees the joy and happiness and life of the world, and it smiles, which cast sunbeams down to the earth. The good things vastly outweigh the bad little sister, the clouds have to be chased away eventually."_

Latias thought about that last sentence. _"The clouds have to be chased away eventually." _So when would these clouds be gone? Would she, eventually, find Latios? She didn't know, and couldn't even begin to guess where he was. The world was a vast, vast place, but she overturn every single rock in it until she found her brother, she swore to it. Latias sighed and flew back up into the sky, the moon was just ending its apex and was starting to go into the late hours of the night. Its light was fading to the wisps of clouds dragging across it. Latias knew she couldn't search anymore tonight, it was too dark and she was utterly tired. She began flying downward, looking for a place to rest. She turned her head back once to look at the moon and stars, or perhaps beyond them. _Goodnight, big brother. _She whispered, _And wherever you are, wind to thy wings. _She disappeared into the woods.

Nothing else disturbed Floaroma Meadow throughout the rest of the night. And all throughout the rest of the night, the single blue flower was always lit by a single beam of moonlight that was somehow never blocked out by the clouds. The petals glowed merrily, as if it didn't know the sorrows of the owner of the tear that gave it life.


End file.
